


I Wish That I Could Be Like The Cool Kids

by thiefofIight



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-20 04:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2415020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefofIight/pseuds/thiefofIight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Dave Strider. In your school, you don’t have a lot of friends because you simply think that you are too cool for all of them, and everyone agrees with that. One day, the nerdy new kid in the school called John Egbert accidentally bumps into you. What will you do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Dave Strider was used to being the coolest, and the best-looking guy in the school, but a lot of things changed when John Egbert arrived. In the first place, Dave didn’t really care about the new kid at school. Of course, he had heard of him because the school wasn’t a big school and everyone basically knew every student, but Dave had very little interest in other people. He always thought that they weren’t cool enough for him, or that they weren’t worthy of his time or attention. And in the beginning, John was no different.

The first time Dave actually saw John was when he was, as always, hanging around next his locker and listening to some beats he’d dropped with his bro a few weeks ago, and late for his next class. On that morning, John was late too, but unlike Dave, he actually cared, which caused for him to run in the hallway and to accidentally bump into Dave who was still standing by his locker. John apologized awkwardly and offered the other boy his hand to help him back up, but Strider simply shook his head nonchalantly, not even listening to John’s apology or looking at him. However, that did not stop John from looking at the coolest kid in the school, who he had never really seen before. Noticing that the other guy still hadn’t gone to class, Dave looked back at him, wondering what he could want from him. And that was the moment when Dave started feeling something he couldn’t explain, something he had never experienced before and he had no idea what that meant. As he looked at John, he simply wanted to remember the color of his eyes, which were more blue than anything Dave had ever seen, the lightly dark tone of his skin, the freckles that spread on his cheeks and over his nose and looked like little stars, and the wonderful bright smile that was John’s and John’s only, forever. He looked down and adjusted his sunglasses again, trying to act like everything was okay and like nothing was disturbing him, even if he was still getting this weird feeling in his stomach.

“What the hell do you want from me?” Dave eventually asked, as nonchalantly as possible.

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking. See ya around,” John replied, laughing softly as he ran towards his classroom and left Dave just standing there, confused about what had just happened to him.

Dave decided to skip this class, figuring that it wouldn’t change anything since he was already late and definitely not ready to listen to what his Spanish teacher had to tell him, to think about what had just happened. He didn’t understand why John had had this effect on him, or why he had been somewhat mesmerized by John’s look, and especially his smile. God, that smile, Dave thought to himself as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to see if any of his chums were pestering him (that was something cool kids like him did, even when they are at school because it’s extremely important for them to keep in touch with all these people who worship them for being so cool). The young boy sighed and leaned against his locker, closing his eyes and thinking about how that smile was the brightest thing he had ever seen before suddenly stopping himself from having such thoughts about Egbert. That wasn’t normal at all. He couldn’t spend all his time thinking about John in that way. That wasn’t something cool kids did. Dave couldn’t let his mind wonder about how beautiful he thought John was, not even ironically like his bro had taught him to do things that weren’t cool at all. John was supposed to be the one admiring him because he was so cool, and not the other way around. Finally, Strider shrugged all of these thoughts away and decided that he definitely was too cool for school for the day and went back home. He didn’t want to see John again by any means today. He needed to clear his mind, and that was it.

Meanwhile, John was thinking about Dave as well. He had noticed that something had happened to him while he was looking at him, but he couldn’t quite tell what it was. He didn’t have a lot of experience with feelings or other people, for John had never been the cool kid anywhere, which meant that he had never had a lot of friends whatsoever. He was used to moving around a lot because of his father’s job, which was ‘serious business’ according to the old man, and had therefore never really had the opportunity to make good friends. He did have one friend online though, but she was just his friend and John thought that online friendships were completely different from real life friendships since he couldn’t keep in touch with the friends he had made no matter where he had stayed at for a while whereas he had managed to stay friends with Jade for years now. Besides, John was at that stage of adolescence during which he questioned himself and his feelings a lot, which made it all even harder to figure out. But Dave’s feelings weren’t the only thing that was troubling John’s mind at the moment. He had to admit that something had happened to him when he’d looked at the bright-red-haired boy and that he couldn’t explain what it was either. Of course, John had noticed Dave several times before the incident that had taken place a few minutes earlier, but he had never felt his stomach sunk the way it did when he heard Dave say ‘It’s all chill, dude.’ when he had apologized and offered to help him back him back up, and he didn’t know what to think of this. He didn’t know if it was about his voice, or about the fact that they had been extremely close to each other for a few seconds, or if everyone felt that way when they were around him, but he knew he had felt something new and he wanted to know what that meant. He wanted to know why he was dying to see the color of the eyes that were hidden behind those damn sunglasses three hundred and sixty-five days a year, despite the fact that it was barely sunny in this town. He wanted to know why Strider suddenly obsessed him. He sighed softly and absentmindedly took a few notes about what his Spanish teacher was explaining, although it was no use for him since he was of Hispanic decent and was fluent in Spanish thanks to his mother, and had an idea about what he could do to find out what he really felt towards Dave. He had to get close to him, to try to become his friend. Unfortunately, John knew that this wouldn’t be really easy for him because Dave was the most popular kid in the school because of how cool he was, and because John had no idea how to make friends. He also knew that it would take time, but it all seemed worth it after all.

When Dave got home, he sat in front of his computer so as to avoid his bro’s questions. He knew he would notice that something about him had changed, that he had somehow become lamer than he was before leaving for school, and he didn’t want to have any confrontation with him about this. Yet, this didn’t stop him from thinking about John the whole day. He had only really seen this kid once but he couldn’t get him out of his mind. This obviously worried him to some extent, but when he was too tired to wonder why John sort of obsessed him, his worries simply disappeared for a while. And so, when Dave drifted off to sleep, the only thing on his mind was John and his dark hair, his huge bright grin, and the little freckles that Dave found absolutely adorable. He didn’t know if he would ever find out what this all meant, or if he would ever do something about that, but at this moment it didn’t matter anymore. He was thinking about John and about to feel asleep, and no matter how much people would think that this wasn’t a cool thing to do at all, it felt right, and Dave wanted to feel like this forever.

For John, things were slightly different when he was about to fall asleep. He had spent the night discussing all these things with Jade, who had told him that he definitely needed to talk to Dave again. She had even told him that he probably had a crush on him, and John had smiled at the idea. He had never thought about his sexuality and whatnot, but he actually liked the thought of liking Dave, because he seemed to be a sweet guy behind that veil of nonchalance that made him who he was on the outside. John and Jade had also found a way to make John talk to the bright-red-haired boy and the tanned boy fell asleep excited about tomorrow and all the things he would have to do.


	2. Chapter 2

On the next morning, John arrived at school late to make sure he would have enough time to do what he had to do so as to make his plan work, and also to make sure that no one would see him while he was setting everything up. He wasn’t sure how Dave would react to what he was about to do, but he really hoped that everything would go according to what he and Jade had talked about. The small Hispanic boy walked towards Dave’s locker and thought for a while. This was the dumbest prank he had ever pulled on anyone, but it really seemed to be the only thing that would make Dave notice him somehow. He smiled to himself as he managed to open the locker and stole Dave’s notebooks before replacing them with the ones he had spent the whole night preparing for the prank. He then shut Strider’s locker and walked towards his own, as if nothing had happened. He grabbed the stuff he needed for his next class and waited. He really couldn’t wait to see what would happen when Dave would find out that all of his school stuff had been replaced.

Later on that day, John and Dave had Spanish, which was the only class they shared. When Dave walked inside the classroom, he immediately noticed John who was sitting in the front row. Dave bit his lip as he looked at him and decided to sit behind him, acting as if his stomach hadn’t sunk again at the sight of the blue-eyed boy. He adjusted his shades on his nose and got his Spanish notebook out of his bag before opening it.

“Holy shit not again,” Dave whispered to himself as he noticed that all of the notes he had taken in this class had been replaced with Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff poorly written smut. He wasn’t really sure who had done that to him. It could have been anyone in the school since everyone knew that Dave was the one who had started this dumb webcomic for ironic matters. He didn’t really mind the prank, though. He simply wanted to know who had had this idea and why they had done this to him. However, he shrugged these thoughts away as soon as he looked in front of him and remembered that John was sitting there. He still didn’t know what was so special about him, and for some reason, Dave hadn’t had the guts to talk to him all day, which was rather unusual of him. He couldn’t explain what was happening to him, but he didn’t really care because it somehow felt right to feel the way he felt about John.

The pranks went on for a few days, and John found a new one to pull on the coolest kid in the school each day. He couldn’t get enough of Dave’s reactions to them. He never got pissed or anything. He didn’t laugh, either. It was almost as though he was completely indifferent to them despite the fact that everyone seemed to think that they were funny and the fact that they got him into trouble with the teachers. Dave didn’t seem to care about any of these things and that fascinated John. He seemed so ‘chill’ with everything and that only made John want to know more about him. But there was something about this that made John feel stupid: his pranks hadn’t made Dave more interested in him than he used to be. He was still acting the way he had acted with him on the day John had accidentally bumped into him. And it kind of sucked, because John was dying to get to know him, to be his friend, and to finally figure out what the fact that his heart started racing whenever Dave was somewhere near him meant. Besides, he couldn’t believe that the bright-red-haired boy really didn’t feel anything about what was surrounding him. He couldn’t believe that he didn’t care about anything for it didn’t make any sense. Everyone cared about someone or something, at least a little.

There were a few things that John hadn’t noticed about Dave, though. Of course, he didn’t really care about the pranks or the fact that they got him into trouble all the time (it was something that Dave was completely used to, after all), but he did feel a little something for John and it was all getting stronger with time. The young teenager was obviously doing everything he could to hide it, but he still couldn’t help glancing at him whenever he got the opportunity to do so. John also didn’t know that Dave knew he was the one who kept pulling pranks on him (he had caught him painting things on his locker one morning) and that he didn’t want them to stop because it made him feel like he meant something to John and again, this was something that felt right.

And so, both John and Dave were completely oblivious to the fact that their feelings were mutual. This wasn’t really a bad thing, though. It was only giving them more time to figure out what they both really felt for each other, in spite of the fact they both thought that nothing would happen between them. They both had their reasons to think so, but it was slightly stupid of them, considering that none of them had really tried to talk to the other. John simply didn’t dare to get near Dave anymore because he was a cool kid and cool kids weren’t the type of people who were interested in him. Besides, he really felt like he wasn’t good enough and probably too nerdy for him. For Dave, it was kind of different. He simply didn’t allow himself to let his feelings show because he was scared. He was scared of his bro’s reaction and that his feelings might ruin his reputation at school. It was almost as if they weren’t made to be together despite all the attraction they felt for each other.

John eventually asked his friend Jade for advice again after two weeks of pulling pranks on Dave because he was truly starting to think that he didn’t care about anything that was happening to him and that he had been wishful thinking whenever he told himself that the other boy would end up noticing him thanks to one of his pranks. The young girl, who lived miles away from John, advised him to stick a small note on Dave’s locker and to give him his chumhandle, so as to make their first real conversation easier for John since he really wasn’t confident enough to start a conversation in person because of all the times he had move out of town and hadn’t kept the friends he had made. John agreed on the fact that it was a great idea and thanked his best friend for always being there for him when he needed her before going to bed, again excited about what would happen with Dave on the next day.


	3. Chapter 3

When Dave saw the little piece of paper that was stuck on his locker, he was a bit disappointed, because the words said that the pranks would stop, and extremely confused, because he had no idea what ectoBiologist meant. And even if he spent all of his classes of the day trying to figure out what this could mean, he still didn’t know what it was when he got home. And again, he simply grabbed some apple juice before running towards his bedroom, not wanting to have one these awkward conversations about why he was being so weird lately with his bro. He sat in front of his computer and opened Pesterchum for no real reason, since he didn’t feel like talking to anyone on that night, despite the number of people who were already pestering him. The only person he wouldn’t have ignored was John, but he had no way to talk to him. Anyway, the handsome Hispanic boy probably had lost all interest in him since he wouldn’t prank him anymore so what was the point in thinking about him right now. Dave felt stupid for not having an ironic crush on John because all the things he had and hadn’t done since he had first caught a glimpse of him were so un-cool and unlike him. He sighed and took a sip of apple juice, when an idea struck him. EctoBiologist probably was John’s chumhandle. It was the only thing that really made sense after all. But figuring this out didn’t make Dave feel much better. Indeed, he had no idea how to start the conversation with John. He wanted to keep acting like he was cool and to keep hiding all his feelings from John but he also wanted to impress him somehow. And it all seemed hard to do simultaneously. And as soon as he began pestering John, Dave had never felt any lamer. John was sitting in his bedroom, talking with Jade about how he thought that he had no chance with Strider since he hadn’t started talking to him yet, when the miracle happened. Someone had just added him and messaged him. He took a deep breath and said goodbye to Jade before opening the new conversation, hoping that he wouldn’t fuck anything up by being way too lame for the cool kid.

 

\--turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB]--

TG: sup  
EB: hi i guess i should apologize for the pranks and all the trouble they got you into  
TG: its all chill dude  
TG: no worries  
EB: dave?  
TG: yknow you could just straight up say it if you fell in love with me or whatever  
TG: im used to it  
TG: everyone wants a piece of that strider ass dude  
TG: you wouldnt be the first or the last  
EB: hehehehe!  
EB: maybe you should come find out whether im in love with you or not tomorrow at lunch break  
EB: meet me in front of the boys bathroom  
EB: bye dave!

\--ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG]—

 

As John logged out, Dave just stared at his screen in confusion. He had a feeling that John liked him back, but there was still something else deep inside him that told him that, maybe, this invitation only was another of John’s pranks. He adjusted his shades on his nose and shook his head, shrugging his questions away. He couldn’t let himself be as worried and excited about this as he was. That wasn’t him. That wasn’t what his brother had taught him to do. Hell, if his brother even had the slightest idea about what was currently going on in Dave’s life, he would probably be extremely disappointed. Striders don’t show feelings towards other people, no matter how beautiful these people are, that was the first rule. And somehow, Dave had broken that rule just by allowing himself to think about him, and to start messaging him on Pesterchum. He sighed and rubbed his thumbs against his temples, closing his eyes. He couldn’t let John slip away because of what his brother would think, could he? Besides, he couldn’t know if John actually liked him, so why would it matter to him if Dave saw him during lunch break. It wouldn’t matter. The older Strider would never hear about this, and everything would be okay. The bright-red-haired boy took a deep breath and got out of his room. He definitely needed a shower to wash away everything that was going on his mind at that moment, because it all was so unusual that Dave thought he really couldn’t take it.   
Right after logging out, John regretted his decision. He should’ve waited for the other boy to reply to him and to tell him that he would meet him instead of leaving like that. Now, he would he know if Dave was planning on seeing him or if he would just stand him up and make him feel like a pathetic idiot. He gently rubbed his eyes behind his glasses and frowned. He had really been stupid on that one, but hopefully he would have done good enough so as to make Dave curious about who he was and why he had pulled so many pranks on him lately. John then remembered how Dave had already assumed that he was in love with him and started chewing on his bottom lip nervously. What did it all mean? Was it just something Dave told everyone as a joke? Had he noticed all the times he had been staring at him? Did he know how he felt about him despite the fact that they had never really talked to each other? John didn’t know, but he was dying to know. He needed it. He needed answers, but not from Jade, no matter how good of a friend she was and how helpful she had been ever since he had started developing that foolish crush on the cool kid of his new school. He needed those answers from Dave. He needed to hear the other boy talk in that nonchalant voice he had grown to love so much, even if he hadn’t gotten to hear it as much as he would have wanted to. He needed him to tell him what he felt, so that he could finally stop imagining all these things that could or could not happen between them.

Despite all their questions and doubts, both John and Dave drifted off to sleep thinking of each other and of what was going to happen on the next day, which was something that had somehow become a habit for the two of them.

The classes they had on the next morning seemed to drag on and on for both of them, for the two teenagers were extremely eager to see each other during their lunch break, in spite of how anxious they felt. During his last class before lunch break, John could barely pay attention to what his math teacher was saying. He kept on glancing at the clock that was hung on the wall, hoping that time would suddenly start going faster so that he could finally know what Dave really thought and felt.  
When the bell announcing that lunch break was starting eventually rang, John quickly packed his math notebook in his backpack and walked out of the classroom faster than ever. And he arrived first in front of the boy’s bathroom, which wasn’t exactly the best setting for him, for it made him really wonder if Dave had planned on meeting him here or not. He chewed on his bottom lip and adjusted his glassed nervously, looking around and hoping the catch a glance of the cool kid soon. 

Dave, however, took his time before joining John. It wasn’t that he wasn’t eager to see him, and to hear whatever the smaller boy had to tell him. He simply wanted to look like he wasn’t interested at all, so that he wouldn’t make a fool of himself if John had only told him to meet him to pull another prank on him. He eventually arrived near the bathroom, and felt his stomach sink as soon as he saw John waiting for him. He then nonchalantly walked over to him and greeted him with another ‘sup’, keeping his face expressionless as he looked at the blue eyes he already liked so much. They just stared at each other silently for what felt like forever to both of them, until John decided to break the silence.

“You have to admit that I got you good with those pranks, right?” He said, not even daring to talk about his feelings or anything that had something to do with them. He was just scared. Dave didn’t intimidate him. John simply couldn’t stop himself from thinking that if he told Dave about the stupid crush he had developed; the other boy would want to stay away from him. And John didn’t want that. He would definitely settle with only being friends if that would enable him to keep Dave around.

“Dude,” Dave replied, “I knew it was you from the start. I saw you looking at me whenever something was going to happen to me. Yeah, the pranks weren’t as bad as what I would usually expect from a guy like you, but you could’ve done better when it came to hiding who the prankster was.”

And their conversation went on this way, until it was time for both of them to go back to class. During the time they spent together, none of them talked about what they had wanted to see each other for. Dave didn’t want to break the cool kid façade he had spent years building, and John was too scared to push Dave away. However, they really did spend a nice moment together, and had told each other that they would most definitely talk on Pesterchum as soon as they would get home, which was a good thing for both of them, even if they had hoped that more would happen today. But then again, they could only blame themselves for not saying anything apart from meaningless things about how much of a nerd John was and how uncool Dave was no matter how hard he tried.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me so long to actually update this. If you wanna know the truth, I've just been working on some other fic ideas I've had for quite some time now. But hey, if you wanna know all about this, just follow my tumblr! (http://erivriskas.tumblr.com) Thanks for reading, by the way.

The two teenagers’ friendship technically shouldn’t have cause any problems in their small school, but unfortunately for them, high school was always full of teen drama, and anything that people didn’t expect always bothered them. And that’s why a lot of students started whispering insults whenever John and Dave walked somewhere near them. Dave didn’t let it get to him. He was happy to be friends with them, and he knew that they weren’t completely wrong when they called him a faggot, although he was wished they would use another word because he truly didn’t see anything wrong with him having a crush on another boy. But that was just Dave and his infamous Strider nonchalance. He didn’t care about what anyone else thought as long as he was happy. Hell, he hadn’t even cared about having friends he really wanted to hang out with until he met John, and that said something about how little he cared about other people’s opinions about him.

But things were different for John. Of course, he had always been the goofy kid who loved everyone and didn’t really care if the feeling wasn’t mutual, but he didn’t want people to hate him or one of his friends. And the words he heard in the hallway did hurt him. He hadn’t told Dave, though. He was too scared that the other boy would think it would be better for him to leave John alone just to stop the rumors. But it wasn’t the only thing that hurt John. There was something that made his heart break about the whole situation: he definitely couldn’t tell Dave about his feelings because of what was going on at school. He had no doubt that Dave would stop hanging out with him if he did so. It would mean that the rumors were true, and that would ruin the cool kid’s reputation (not that spending time with John hadn’t already somewhat done so, but John thought that it would make it worse if he finally told Dave about his stupid crush) and John believed that his friend didn’t want that. He was actually convinced that no matter how hard he was trying to hide it, Dave cared about what the others thought of him and their friendship, and well, that really hurt the blue-eyed boy. He tried not to think about these things too much, though. Dave was still his friend despite everything that had happened, after all.

Since spending time together at school wasn’t always the most pleasant thing to do because of what people said when they saw them together, John once suggested that Dave would come over to his place for a sleepover, and they had managed to organize that. However, the closer they get to that night, the more anxious John was. It wouldn’t be like all the evening they had spent there doing their homework or the afternoons they had spent out. It would be different. Dave would stay the night. He would wake up in John’s house. And all these things made John’s heart cave in. This wasn’t in a bad way, though. He simply couldn’t believe that he would get to see the cool kid of his school waking up in the morning. He couldn’t believe he would get to sleep in the same room as him. And the fact that John had a really huge crush on him made those things even harder to believe. But they were going to happen, and despite how nervous this all made him, John couldn’t wait for Dave to knock on the front door and to get inside the house. This was stupid, but it still felt right. It always felt right to think about Dave that way, even if a lot of people seemed to think that it was wrong.

Dave was excited about the sleepover, too. He actually got excited about anything that had to do with spending time with John; he was just better at hiding it than the other boy, so no one knew about how happy this all made him. But what Dave didn’t know was that his brother had noticed. It actually wasn’t hard to guess that something was going on in Dave’s life, for he spent most of his time out with John or in his bedroom, avoiding any sort of conversation with the older Strider. And so, a few minutes before Dave left the house, Dirk threw condoms at the bright-red-haired boy.

“Have fun tonight, little man,” he said, snickering to himself as Dave turned towards him.

“This isn’t what you think,” Dave replied, keeping his face as expressionless as possible behind his shades. “I’m just going to spend the night at a friend’s and we’re most likely gonna watch some dumb movie he doesn’t even like ironically. Kinda like with you and those smuppets.”

“They’re completely ironic. You just don’t know what you’re talking about. But who’s that friend? You never told me about her.”

Dave stopped and swallowed hard, thinking about what he could reply. If his brother thought he was going to see a girl, it definitely meant that he had figured out that he had a crush on the person he spent most of his time with, and that wasn’t cool at all. And what was even less cool, was the fact that Dave liked boy. He wasn’t sure how Dirk would react to this, and somehow, that scared him. His brother was the only family Dave had ever had, and he didn’t want to disappoint him.

“Something wrong, little man?” Dirk asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“No, bro, everything’s chill.”

“So who’s the lucky lady?”

“There’s no lucky lady, bro. Drop it,” Dave replied after freezing again while he thought about what he could say without exactly telling his brother about his feelings. “I’m just gonna spend time with a friend. And he’s a guy. His name is John. Is that enough now?”

“Don’t be so defensive about it, little bro. It’s cool with me if you got yourself a little boyfriend,” Dirk huffed, making Dave adjust his shades so as to hide the fact that this conversation was making him extremely uncomfortable and nervous.

“Yeah, whatever, bro. He’s not my boyfriend anyway,” he replied quickly, walking towards the front door and grabbing the handle.

“Alright, just tell me whenever he does become your boyfriend, then,” Dirk said, still laughing to himself. “And have fun with him. Wear protection if anything happens.”

“Fine, jackass,” Dave mumbled in response as he walked out of the apartment, thinking about what his brother had just told him. Of course he hadn’t seriously given him his approval to get a boyfriend, but he never did anything seriously. So somehow, that reassured Dave about his feelings. His brother didn’t see anything wrong with that, and it meant that he could continue crushing on John without feeling bad. And it felt just right.

Dave eventually arrived at John’s place, and as soon as he knocked on the door, John wasted no time in opening it and letting him in. And he was smiling with all these teeth, and that made Dave melt. That smile definitely was one of the cutest things he had ever seen, and he never wanted John to stop smiling. That kid was beautiful, with his skin that look like he was constantly tanned and his little freckles and his wonderful blue eyes, but this huge, bright smile that showed his bucked teeth and made his eyes shine was absolutely breathtaking. And Dave, who couldn’t get enough of that smile, was secretly falling for it, and it wasn’t ironic.

The evening went on normally, the way a sleepover between friends was supposed to go on. They played video games and ate pizza and the cake John’s father had baked for them. They both were having a good time, but they also both had something else on their minds. They couldn’t take their eyes off the boy who was next to them, and they couldn’t really explain why it was so. And when they both ended up in John’s room, both feeling sleepy, John couldn’t help but suggest that Dave sleeps in his bed instead of on the mattress that was on the floor because there was enough space of both of them. And for some reason, Dave agreed and ended up cuddled up against John as they both drifted off. And again, it all felt right, even if neither of them had managed to tell the other what they really felt. After all, maybe sometimes words weren’t needed.


	5. Chapter 5

John found himself wide awake in the middle of the night. When he first opened his eyes, he had forgotten about Dave being in the same bed as him, but as soon as he felt his arms around him, it all came back to him. Dave was there, asleep in his bed, and he was holding him. It felt surreal, like it was too good to be true. And yet, it was happening. John yawned quietly, trying to wake his asleep friend up. John thought of the word friend for a while. Were they actually friends? Did friends hold each other like this at night during a sleepover? John wasn’t sure, but he quickly decided that he was too tired to think about such things. Besides, it felt right, and he didn’t want to ruin it by asking himself too many questions. He still wanted to wake Dave up to tell him about his feelings, though. It just seemed to be the right thing to do in that moment. But Dave was fast asleep, and John didn’t want to ruin that either. His breaths were slow, steady, and just everything that made John feel even more at peace. There was no way he would change that, no matter how tempting it was. Besides, he knew that there was still a chance that his feelings may not be mutual, and it would just be too bad to be rejected now, when it practically felt as though they were dating. So John remained silent and nuzzled Dave’s neck, closing his eyes and falling back asleep when he felt a hand running through his fingers.

“Dude, you awake?” Dave asked in a raspy voice, half whispering. And god, John had to fight the urge to kiss him. Everything about the moment was beautiful, especially things that had to do with Dave. And John liked him, there was no way he could doubt it at that point.

“Huh uh,” John replied, opening his eyes and looking up at Dave.

It was a shame that the night was especially dark and that the moon wasn’t making it any clearer or shining through John’s bedroom’s window, because the two boys were dying to see each other right now. They were dying to look at each other and to talk about how they felt to no end. Even Dave felt like telling John about how cute his smile was, and how much he loved to see his eyes because they were bluer than any eyes he’d seen before. But none of them said a word for a while. It was just like when they had drifted off to sleep. Everything was silent, but everything felt right. It was John who broke the silence, but only to say Dave’s name hesitantly. He wanted to tell him. He had to, and he was going to do it, he just needed to make sure he had the other boy’s attention. But something happened, and John couldn’t speak anymore. He felt Dave’s warm breath getting closer to his face, and in a few seconds, Dave’s lips were pressed against his and they were kissing. It wasn’t like in the movies, though. It was awkward and kind of messy, because they both had never kissed anyone before, but it felt way too good for any of them to stop. And they just stayed there, clinging to each other while their lips moved in sync.

John eventually broke the kiss and remained awkwardly silent for what seemed like hours to both of them. Dave knew he could have said something to make things less weird, but he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t going to be the guy to confess about his feelings right after kissing John. That wasn’t like him at all anyway. And John was scared. He knew Dave had been the one to kiss him, but he still thought that if he said anything, Dave would want to leave. He wasn’t cool enough for him, after all.

They didn’t talk about the kiss until Dave left John’s place. The morning went as well as the previous night, though. They talked about school and how they had chemistry homework and Dave was sure he would never make it, and John offered him to help him over Pesterchum this afternoon. But no words about kissing or feelings were exchanged on before Dave left, and that worried the two boys. John thought that this had just been something that Dave had done in the spur of the moment, and Dave thought that he had scared John away. But again, they both were making assumptions that were completely wrong.

Once Dave had left, John went back in his bedroom to avoid his father. It wasn’t that something was wrong; John simply wanted to be left alone to think until it would be time to help Dave with their chemistry homework. But when he opened the door, John immediately noticed a red piece of clothing that didn’t belong to him. It was Dave’s hoodie, the one he was wearing last night. John picked it up and put it on, breathing in Dave’s scent. It was stupid, even John thought so, but it felt nice to have his crush’s scent on him. Besides, the hoodie was really comfy and warm, and that was the kind of things John liked. He lied down on his bed, looking at the ceiling for a few minutes before closing his eyes. Dave had kissed him. Of course it was dark and they were both tired, but it had still happened. They hadn’t talked about it afterwards, but it was still a thing that had happened. That kiss had been real, and Dave had seemed to be into it. And for some reason, those thoughts made John’s heart beat faster. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. He had to talk to Dave. He needed to do it now, to know what he felt. He couldn’t just keep day dreaming about him, not after that kiss. He actually kind of regretted not having the guts to say anything after it happened, but it was better late than never, wasn’t it? He quickly typed a text that simply said ‘I like you’ and sent it to Dave, waiting for him to reply. But minutes passed, and John’s phone didn’t buzz. He was really starting to think that he had fucked up and that it would have been better if he hadn’t said anything.

But really, the only reason why Dave hadn’t replied was because he didn’t know what to say, and could hardly believe that John had texted him that out of the blue. Of course, it wasn’t completely out of the blue because of what had happened when they both randomly woke up in the middle of the night, but Dave simply didn’t expect that. And he didn’t know what to do. He did like John back, but he didn’t know how to say it. He couldn’t bluntly say it the way John had, that would have been too easy. He needed advice, but he didn’t know who to talk to. There was no way he would ask his brother about it, he would just embarrass him. And so, he walked straight to his bedroom when he got home and sat on his bed, staring at John’s text for hours. He knew he was making everything horrible by not replying. He knew John probably was freaking out and wondering if Dave hated him. But he still couldn’t think of what to say.

Dave eventually opened his backpack to get his charger (his phone was dying and he really needed to plug it in in case John would text him something he could reply to), and he realized that he had forgotten his favorite hoodie at John’s place. And that was how Dave only texted John back to ask him if he had seen his hoodie.

When John opened Dave’s text, he wasn’t sure what to think. He was still slightly scared because the other boy had sort of ignored what he had told him, but he was also relieved because this meant that he wasn’t mad at him, that he didn’t want to stop talking to him. And so, John texted Dave back quite quickly.

_To Dave: uh yeah! i found it in my room after you left. im actually wearing it right now. :B_

_From Dave: dude, thats so lame. i cant believe i have a crush on a guy who does that kinda stuff._

John smiled at Dave’s reply. He even blushed slightly and buried his face in Dave’s hoodie. He had said it. He had a crush on him. And the kiss they had shared hadn’t been meaningless. Dave liked him back, and that the only thing John could really think of.

John’s reply to Dave’s text was a picture, and when Dave opened it, he immediately saved it on his phone. It was John, who looked as perfect as always, wearing his hoodie. And at that moment, it didn’t matter that they had both been unable to tell each other that they liked each other. They had managed to show it, and that was more than enough.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so half assed and such a sugar coated happy ending but I really want these two to be happy and I also really felt like writing something cute, so yeah. I hope you guys will like it!

John was getting ready for prom in his bedroom when his father knocked on the door. He knew what kind of conversation would be taking place, and even though he was nervous, he wanted it to happen. He had been dating Dave for a few months now, and it was time for him to come out to his dad. John thought that maybe, his dad already knew but that he hadn’t really bothered telling him about it because he was happy for him no matter what. After all, Mr. Egbert would have been the most oblivious person in the world if he didn’t have any idea of what was going on between his son and Dave Strider, for Dave came over and stayed for the night quite regularly since he had started dating John. Not that anything had happened in front of John’s father or under his roof, but Dave liked to sneak small pecks on John’s lips whenever his dad was looking away or to hold his hand under the table, and it always made John’s cheeks turn red. But still, John didn’t know what his father reaction would be when he would officially tell him, and that was what made him nervous, despite the fact that he was extremely happy to be with Dave.

And so, John took a deep breath before opening the door and letting his father in his bedroom. The older man sat on the edge of his son’s bed and patted the spot next to him, where John sat a few seconds later. The blue-eyed boy adjusted his glasses nervously without even glancing at his father, unsure how to start the conversation.

“You look good, son,” Mr. Egbert started as he looked at John and gave him a small smile. “I bet whoever is going to prom with you must feel really bad knowing you’re going to look that good.”

“Thanks, dad, but Dave’s probably the one everyone is going to be looking at. I mean, you know how it is with cool kids like him, they always get all the attention,” John answered nervously, swallowing hard and hoping that h wouldn’t have to say more for his father to understand that he was dating Dave.

“You don’t have a real date for prom?”

That question made John even more nervous. It meant that his father hadn’t noticed anything about his relationship with Dave, or that he didn’t consider it a real relationship, and the young man didn’t want either of those things. He wanted his dad to be happy for him, because he was happy to be Dave’s boyfriend and to be going to prom with him.

“I do. Dave’s my date. Well, he’s not only my date,” John said bluntly, before pausing to take another deep breath and try to calm down. “He’s my boyfriend, dad.”

They both remained silent for a while, and John wasn’t sure what to do. Why isn’t his dad saying anything? Why wasn’t he telling him that he was proud of him just like he always did? Wasn’t he happy that he had someone who loved him? But none of them had the chance to say anything else, because someone rang their bell, and John rushed out of the room to join Dave. At least things would be okay when he would be with him.

An hour ago, in the Strider’s household, the situation wasn’t completely different from what it was at the Egberts’, except for the fact that the bright-red-haired boy wasn’t nervous about having this conversation with his older brother. He knew Dirk knew what was going on and that he was okay with it, because he hadn’t said anything about it except for the times when he had made comments about how much of a nerd Dave’s boyfriend was. And that was the way Dirk showed he was okay with what Dave was doing. He never explicitly told him, but somehow, the younger Strider always managed to figure out what the older Strider thought. Things had always been this way between them, after all.

And so, after exchanging a few words with his brother about how going to prom with John was just ironic, Dave left the apartment and drove to the Egberts’. But when he rang their bell, Dave definitely didn’t expect John to tell him not to get outside and leave the house right away. But Dave still got inside his car without even asking him what was wrong. He knew John would tell him and that he wouldn’t have to pry. John had never hidden anything from him since they had started dating. Even when people at school found out about their relationships and called them names even more than before, John had told Dave how much it upset him despite the fact that he was scared that Dave would break up with him to protect them or whatever had been gone through the blue-eyed teenager’s at that moment. But this time, John remained absolutely silent, just like he had been after telling his father that Dave was his boyfriend. He couldn’t actually believe that he didn’t seem to be okay with their relationship. They hadn’t even really hidden it from him or anything, so it shouldn’t have had surprised his father. But still, he had remained silent when John told him he was dating Dave, and John wished he had at least said something. But silence had been his answer, and John wasn’t too sure what to think of it. He actually felt stupid for freaking out about this, and that was why he wasn’t even talking to Dave. He was just silently worrying, and he hated it.

“You sure you still wanna go to prom?” Dave asked, snapping John out of his thoughts. “You don’t seem to be too excited about it anymore. I mean, we could watch one of those stupid movies with Nic Cage that you like so much or whatever. I don’t care. My bro’s home but I don’t think he’ll mind having someone over. He’s cool like that. And we could order pizza or I could ask him to go to the store and get us some chicken nuggets or anything you’d like.”

“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” John replied softly, cracking Dave a small smile. And he actually did feel like smiling in spite of how he felt because of his father. Dave was just rambling about all the things they could, and it just felt right to listen to him. It always felt right to be with him, after all.

And that was how John and Dave ended up watching Nic Cage movies in Dave’s bedroom. His father’s reaction was still on John’s mind, but he was still enjoying his time with Dave. He loved him, and they were together, and it was all that mattered. At some point during the movie, John’s phone buzzed in his pocket. The teenager grabbed it and read the text. It was from his dad, who was telling him that no matter who he decided to love, he was still really proud of him. And that was when John’s full smile that showed his teeth came back, and Dave, who still loved that smile as much as the first time he had seen it, noticed it the way he had noticed that something was wrong when he picked up John a few hours ago.

“Glad that text got my little nerdy Egbert back,” he commented, nudging his side gently.

“I love you, Dave,” John mouthed, leaning in to kiss him.

And they kissed. And Dave said he loved John, too. And nothing could go wrong on that day. They were in a healthy relationship, and everyone knew about it, and the people they cared about were okay with it. That was all they needed. John didn’t need to be a cool kid anymore, for he had found the one he thought was the coolest kid ever and had somehow managed to make him think he was cool enough. Dave didn’t think about being cooler than his brother anymore, for he had realized that he was cool in his own way, and that this was enough for John to love him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who read this, that means a whole lot to me. And a special thank you to Shiza for the headcanons used in this fic, and for telling me that what I write is pretty good, and for making me write this. Also, thanks for the kudos and comments on the other chapters, they really made me want to keep on writing this.


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